CINCINNATI BENGALS One Paul Brown Stadium Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 (513) 621-3550 administrative offices (513) 621-3570 administrative fax (513) 621-TDTD (8383) ticket office www.bengals.com WEEKLY NEWS RELEASE DEC. 22, 2020 WEEK 16, GAME 15 CINCINNATI BENGALS (3-10-1) SUNDAY, DEC. 27 AT NRG STADIUM AT NEXT WEEK: SEASON FINALE HOUSTON TEXANS (4-10) JAN. 3 VS. BALTIMORE GAME NOTES Kickoff: 1 p.m. Eastern. you get three takeaways on defense, the offense owes it to you to win that football game. I’m happy we could do enough to get the defense the win, Television: The game will air on FOX-TV. In the Bengals’ home region, because they deserved it.” it will be carried by WXIX-TV (Ch. 19) in Cincinnati, WGRT-TV (Ch. 45) in This week, the Bengals face a Houston team that has won its last three Dayton, WDKY-TV (Ch. 56) in Lexington, and WTTE-TV (Ch. 28) in Columbus. matchups with Cincinnati. There is also uncertainty as to who will line up under Broadcasters are Chris Myers (play-by-play), Greg Jennings (analyst) and Jen center for Cincinnati — Finley or Brandon Allen. Last week, Taylor told the media Hale (reporter). that Allen, who suffered a knee injury in Game 13 vs. Dallas, was the team’s starter when healthy. But Finley was widely credited for a strong performance Radio: The game will air on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati against Pittsburgh that featured a TD pass, TD run and multiple first-down flagship stations WLW-AM (700), WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports) and conversions in key moments. WEBN-FM (102.7). Broadcasters are Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave “Just to see the response of our players in the locker room after the game ... Lapham (analyst). they earned that,” Taylor said. “It’s just fun to watch our guys celebrate and have fun. They’ve been working hard every week, but we hadn’t gotten these wins. Setting the scene: The Bengals this week travel to Houston to face Now we’ll carry that energy over to this week and go on the road on a short week the Texans on Sunday at NRG Stadium. Cincinnati will be looking to ride the to Houston.” momentum of one of the biggest upsets in its history, a 27-17 win over the The Texans enter Sunday’s matchup 4-10, after losing 27-20 at Indianapolis heavily favored Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. last week. “It’s exciting,” said Bengals QB Ryan Finley after his first career win as a starter. “I’m obviously very happy, but I’m very happy for everyone involved too. The series: The Texans lead 8-4, including 2-0 in postseason. The The faces of everyone after in the locker room postgame — it’s fun. We haven’t Texans also lead 4-2 in games played in Houston. had too many postgame locker rooms like that recently, so it’s always fun to get The Texans have won the last three meetings, and eight of the last nine a win. And it’s even better beating the Steelers on Monday night.” matchups since 2008, including a pair of Wild Card playoffs at Houston after the Pittsburgh entered the game favored by 14 points, and riding a streak of 11 2011 and ’12 seasons. The Bengals’ only win in that stretch was a 22-13 victory straight wins over Cincinnati. Furthermore, the Bengals had turned to their third at Houston in 2014. starting QB of the season in Finley, and lost their leading receiver, Tyler Boyd, to Complete series results are on page 202 of the Bengals’ 2020 media guide. a concussion midway through the first quarter. Cincinnati, though, controlled the game from the start, forcing three Team bests from the series: Pittsburgh turnovers in the first half. The Bengals converted all three into points, Bengals — MOST POINTS: 38, in a 38-3 win at Houston in 2002. while the defense held Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger to just 19 passing yards LARGEST VICTORY MARGIN: 35, in the ’02 win at Houston. FEWEST POINTS in the first half, his fewest ever before halftime in 230 career starts. ALLOWED: 3, in the ’02 win at Houston. “Our defense was playing with a ton of energy,” Taylor said. “They were Texans — MOST POINTS: 35, in a 35-6 win at Houston in 2008. getting guys on the ground, and I didn’t see many missed tackles. They made LARGEST VICTORY MARGIN: 29, in the ’08 win at Houston. FEWEST POINTS some big one-on-one plays down the field, which we knew was going to be a big ALLOWED: 6 (twice, most recently in the 2015 game at Cincinnati). part of the game. The Steelers do a great job of finding those one-on-ones and getting big plays, but our DBs really stepped up and made those plays when The last meetings: Summaries of the two most recent Bengals- their number was called.” Texans meetings — in 2016 at Houston, and in ’17 at Cincinnati — are on page After Cincinnati took a 17-0 into the half, Pittsburgh’s offense responded and 12 of this news release. found a rhythm in the third quarter to trim the margin to 17-10. But the Steelers, the NFL’s top-ranked scoring defense entering the contest, struggled to contain a BENGALS-TEXANS NFL RANKINGS run-heavy Bengals offense that featured 41 rushes and just 13 pass attempts. “We were going to have to establish the run to win the game, and I thought BENGALS TEXANS those guys up front really did a great job,” Taylor said. “Everybody did a good job SCORING (AVERAGE POINTS): of executing. The backs — Giovani Bernard and Samaje Perine — ran hard. Points scored................................................ 30th (19.3) T-23rd (22.5) Finley had some big runs for us, and his big touchdown run (23 yards) was huge. Points allowed .............................................. 19th (25.4) 24th (27.8) It was a good job by our guys adjusting over the course of the game offensively, NET OFFENSE (AVERAGE YARDS): and handling the adjustments as the game went on.” Total ........................................................... 30th (312.9) 18th (361.4) On the other side of the ball, Cincinnati’s defense withstood Pittsburgh’s Rushing ........................................................ 27th (96.6) 32nd (86.0) second-half comeback attempt with timely stops and constant pressure on Passing ....................................................... 26th (216.4) 3rd (275.4) Roethlisberger. The most noteworthy of those stops came late in the fourth NET DEFENSE (AVERAGE YARDS): quarter, when the Steelers took over possession trailing by seven points with Total .......................................................... 22nd (372.4) 31st (402.6) 2:17 remaining. But the Bengals’ defense stood tall, forcing four straight Rushing ...................................................... 26th (128.4) 31st (150.5) Roethlisberger incompletions and a turnover on downs. A late Bengals FG Passing ....................................................... 20th (244.0) 23rd (252.1) pushed their lead to two scores, and gave Cincinnati a 27-17 win. TURNOVERS: “We preached it all week — ‘Win the turnover battle,’” Finley said. “And when Differential ........................................... T-27th (minus-7) 30th (minus-8) — 1 — (Game notes, continued) played at the University of Texas ... Bengals HB Trayveon Williams, K Randy Bullock and G Keaton Sutherland all played at Texas A&M. Williams is from Hello again, Houston: Though the Bengals and Houston Texans Houston (C.E. King High School), and Bullock is from Klein, Texas (Klein High have met only 12 times, Cincinnati’s NFL rivalry against teams from Houston School) ... Bengals DT D.J. Reader (Reserve/Injured) entered the NFL as a fifth- spans 69 games. The total includes 57 meetings between the Bengals and the round draft pick of the Texans in 2016, and was with the team through the ’19 Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans). Those 57 games were split evenly, 28- season ... Texans C/G Greg Mancz (practice squad) is from Cincinnati 28-1, and the Bengals-Texans series is led 8-4 by Houston. (Anderson High School), and also played at the University of Toledo ... Texans Thus, the Bengals’ combined record against Houston teams is 32-36-1 ILB Nate Hall is from Toledo, Ohio (Southview High School) ... Texans S Lonnie (includes 2-1 edge for Houston in postseason matchups). Johnson Jr. played at the University of Kentucky ... Bengals CB Brian Allen (practice squad) is from La Marque, Texas (La Marque High School) ... Bengals Bengals career records watch: Here is a look at potential CB Tony Brown (Reserve/Injured) is from Beaumont, Texas (Ozen High School) upcoming movement in the Bengals’ career records book (regular-season ... Texans T Elijah Nkansah (practice squad) played at the University of Toledo records): ... Texans CB Gareon Conley (Reserve/Injured) and Bradley Roby ● Bengals S Brandon Wilson has two career kickoff returns for TDs, tied (Reserve/Suspended) both played at Ohio State University ... Texans DT with S/CB Tremain Mack for the Bengals’ all-time lead. Brandon Dunn (Reserve/Injured) is from Louisville, Ky., and played at the ● WR A.J. Green has 65 career receiving TDs, one behind WR Chad University of Louisville ... Texans OLB Davin Bellamy (Practice Squad/Injured) Johnson (66) for the Bengals’ all-time lead. Green passed WR Carl Pickens (63) was on the Bengals’ practice squad in 2019 ... Bengals tight ends coach James in Game 10 at Washington. Casey played TE for the Texans from 2009-12. Casey also played at Rice ● Green has 65 total TDs, one behind Johnson (66) for second place all- University from 2007-08, and coached at the University of Houston from 2016-18 time. FB Pete Johnson (70) is the Bengals’ all-time leader.